He said you were an empty speck, unimportant. Lucien doesn't want to focus on the fact there was someone who had a life for two years, he skated right over it. He said you were gone ... but how is that possible if you were what was left when he was gone? Nothing he says is easy to trust or follow.
[ Shaken by Molly, he reaches up to touch him on the cheek, thumb skating over the peacock feathers. ]
I didn't like the way he spoke about you. None of us did. Even Veth ... Nott, asked him why he didn't give a shit about us.
She held together rather well, all things considered. Didn't give away much.
[ They were all on edge around Lucien, guarded. He was polite but not in a welcoming way. ]
He's so different to you.
[ looping an arm around Molly to keep him settled close, Fjord runs the pad of his thumb over that tattoo and down Molly's neck, tracing the red eye there. His frown returns. ]
It sounded like he planned on ascending to something, all that Nine Eyes bullshit was really important to him. We agreed to follow his group from a distance.
Please... please look after her. She's already lost so much.
[ Too much. He's glad she has the Nein with her now, people that can help her with her feelings. Yasha has so much to give but not everyone understood her.
His sweet charm.
Fjord's closeness and gentle touches are really helping, and his tension lessens the more they lean on each other. He curls his tail around the half-orc's waist, looking at his friend once more as Fjord mentions following Lucien and his people. ]
[ His hand slides into Molly's hair at the nape of his neck as the tiefling looks at him for clarification. ]
We had a woman in our charge, Vess de Rogna, whom he murdered right under our noses. She was part of the Cerberus Assembly and no pushover, but he single-handedly took her out ... and we felt obliged to follow. We saw you doing it.
[ No way the Nein wouldn't rush after Molly, following a return like that. ]
There's a place called Aeor, it's got something to do with having Nine Eyes. We don't know what he's up to but he's fine with letting us watch, so ...
[ Shrugging. ]
Edited (what is html today) 2020-11-25 12:07 (UTC)
[ He listens, tail making an angry snap-swish when Fjord says 'you', but holding back any comments. This was some messy stuff, after all. He has no knowledge who this Cerberus Assembly woman is, but Lucien must have some strange powers if he can take down a mage without alerting the rest of them.
He gnaws a bit at his lower lip by that last part and shakes his head a little, careful to not dislodge that sweet touch. ]
That doesn't sound like a huge trap at all. 'I brought all these sacrifices' levels of trap. Why would he entertain the possibility that you'd fuck up the nine eyes shit, otherwise?
... Shit. Well, [ in a bid not to look embarrassed at how entirely fucking gullible they've all been, so keen to follow Mollucien, he huffs, ] he's been collecting threshold crests from the ruins near Aeor, assumedly for that very same ritual.
[ He's going to beat your asses in the afterlife, Mighty Nein. It's heartbreaking to know they keep following Lucien, and he hopes it's not because they think he's anything like Molly.
He's not trying to kill us! He's being all enigmatic and Ooo, follow along if you can keep up, he hasn't got beef with us since we spoke. He's just creepy.
[ Cannot underline that enough. ]
The crest we saw him steal was a giant gem, there was another with necromantic energy that Caleb couldn't free. We were deciding whether to search for more when I came back, I don't know what kind of ritual Lucien has planned beyond something stupidly dangerous.
[ Watching as Molly sits up and declares himself King of the Nein, a smile twitches at the corner of Fjord's lips. He sags forward and lets his forehead rest against Molly's sternum, arms draped around his middle. ]
[ Easing the tension with jokes and deflecting from the subject in one such idea.
When the half-orc cuddles up to him, Molly eagerly holds Fjord where they sit, drawing and giving strength from their embrace and just trying to digest all of this. A moment later, he's placing a kiss to that scarred brow. ]
All of this came back to you after... do you even remember walking into the water?
[ With his cheek mushed against Molly's front, he shakes his head. Frowns across the room. ]
Shit, no. I don't remember getting up or leaving here. Except ... there was a light in the water, I think? And then ... I woke up in the hospital with you.
[ He thinks about it for a moment, how the Augur may be manipulating him and cruelly taunting them with a future fucked up beyond the telling, giving and taking memories and powers as they please. The only good thing out of all of this, of course, is in his arms. ]
Let me take a look at you.
[ He gives him a decisive push backwards to the bed, fully intending on crawling on top of Molly. ]
[ Molly frowns at that, trying to figure out what it means - but then Fjord is pushing him back into the bed. He wiggles a bit to make room and then looks up at the half-orc when the man joins him to take a very close look.
(He can count Fjord's eyelashes.)
I want to see you, not him.
He can't help screwing up his face at that and just making the worst, least dignified expression he can think of. Because Mollymauk Tealeaf is always happy to make a fool of himself, and he severely doubts Lucien is. ]
[ He sits on his haunches either side of Molly's thighs, leaning down to put their foreheads together as Molly pulls faces. Molly's so open and playful that it gets harder and harder to equate him with the lethal murderer who dispatched de Rogna without a fuss, there's no trace of the cool and collected man who ...
Oh. Fjord looks delighted as he remembers, ]
Seems legit. Your accent's different to his, after all.
[ They're intimate to an obscene degree right now, foreheads together and joking like idiots. Not something he would ever expect from manly-man Fjord.
Molly loves it.
It feels like they've grown so much closer in just this month here, and it's hard to tell if it's because of them being alone and depending on eachother on a weird sex island or what would always happen if he had stayed with them.
...then Fjord delivers that and he breaks into a laugh. ]
[ If he was being honest with himself, he isn't thinking. He's doing. Acting on impulse. Right now, he wants to keep Molly to himself and soak up the friend he's been missing, gutted that he had been supplanted by such a cold and distant stranger. When he gets his tusks poked he sees nothing of Lucien in the man beneath him and no air of caution drifts across the back of his neck.
He tosses his hair for show, acting smug. ]
I know, they're pretty great. Also useful, many a tiefling has been gored to date.
[ And he's going to pretend to go after that hand again with gnashing teeth, if Molly doesn't pull it back. ]
[ Planting his hands beside Molly on the bed, he leans down to arch a brow at the accusation. They are close, it hits him then that although he's on his hands and knees and not directly touching him, he's stretched out over the length of Molly's body, able to feel the subtle heat that always emanates into the tiefling's clothes. It reminds him of how they sleep, pressed close and toasty to ward off the chill from the broken window ... but that's a safety thing, sharing the same sleeping space. Fjord doesn't make a habit of getting up in Molly's personal bubble on a daily basis otherwise; it reminds him of the time Molly did it to him, back when they had first met.
The power was inside you all along.
So, once Fjord is in position to tease him, he forgets what he was going to say and ends up looking into those red eyes close enough to see the ghosts of pupils, content to stay there. ]
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[ Shaken by Molly, he reaches up to touch him on the cheek, thumb skating over the peacock feathers. ]
I didn't like the way he spoke about you. None of us did. Even Veth ... Nott, asked him why he didn't give a shit about us.
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...and who is Veth? ]
Empty speck, yet I took two years of his damn life to do more good, happy things than he could in his whole existence.
[ Molly looks back at Fjord again with a sigh, leaning into that touch like he needs it to continue. ]
I hope he hates my tattoos.
[ He doesn't know what else to say. This is all so surreal. ]
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[ Fjord's shoulders sag. ]
She gave him a four-leaf clover from her book, he put it in his coat.
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[ Molly's voice turns small and he sighs, leaning closer to Fjord. ]
I gave her that... with the book. So she had something to collect her flowers in for her wife.
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[ They were all on edge around Lucien, guarded. He was polite but not in a welcoming way. ]
He's so different to you.
[ looping an arm around Molly to keep him settled close, Fjord runs the pad of his thumb over that tattoo and down Molly's neck, tracing the red eye there. His frown returns. ]
It sounded like he planned on ascending to something, all that Nine Eyes bullshit was really important to him. We agreed to follow his group from a distance.
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[ Too much. He's glad she has the Nein with her now, people that can help her with her feelings. Yasha has so much to give but not everyone understood her.
His sweet charm.
Fjord's closeness and gentle touches are really helping, and his tension lessens the more they lean on each other. He curls his tail around the half-orc's waist, looking at his friend once more as Fjord mentions following Lucien and his people. ]
Why...?
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We had a woman in our charge, Vess de Rogna, whom he murdered right under our noses. She was part of the Cerberus Assembly and no pushover, but he single-handedly took her out ... and we felt obliged to follow. We saw you doing it.
[ No way the Nein wouldn't rush after Molly, following a return like that. ]
There's a place called Aeor, it's got something to do with having Nine Eyes. We don't know what he's up to but he's fine with letting us watch, so ...
[ Shrugging. ]
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He gnaws a bit at his lower lip by that last part and shakes his head a little, careful to not dislodge that sweet touch. ]
That doesn't sound like a huge trap at all. 'I brought all these sacrifices' levels of trap. Why would he entertain the possibility that you'd fuck up the nine eyes shit, otherwise?
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[ NINENINE!! Best group of adventurers! ]
... Shit. Well, [ in a bid not to look embarrassed at how entirely fucking gullible they've all been, so keen to follow Mollucien, he huffs, ] he's been collecting threshold crests from the ruins near Aeor, assumedly for that very same ritual.
no subject
[ He's going to beat your asses in the afterlife, Mighty Nein. It's heartbreaking to know they keep following Lucien, and he hopes it's not because they think he's anything like Molly.
His lovable idiots. ]
What is a threshold crest? And this ritual?
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[ Cannot underline that enough. ]
The crest we saw him steal was a giant gem, there was another with necromantic energy that Caleb couldn't free. We were deciding whether to search for more when I came back, I don't know what kind of ritual Lucien has planned beyond something stupidly dangerous.
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[ He gives Fjord an annoyed glare and then sits up straighter, pushing his chest out to look more assertive. It... kind of works. A little. ]
That's it, I've had enough, I'm taking over, I'm the leader now. Fuck all of you. When you get back, let them know that and that I say fuck Lucien.
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... Okay. Sounds good to me, Molls.
[ Mister not-Lucien. ]
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[ Easing the tension with jokes and deflecting from the subject in one such idea.
When the half-orc cuddles up to him, Molly eagerly holds Fjord where they sit, drawing and giving strength from their embrace and just trying to digest all of this. A moment later, he's placing a kiss to that scarred brow. ]
All of this came back to you after... do you even remember walking into the water?
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Shit, no. I don't remember getting up or leaving here. Except ... there was a light in the water, I think? And then ... I woke up in the hospital with you.
[ He thinks about it for a moment, how the Augur may be manipulating him and cruelly taunting them with a future fucked up beyond the telling, giving and taking memories and powers as they please. The only good thing out of all of this, of course, is in his arms. ]
Let me take a look at you.
[ He gives him a decisive push backwards to the bed, fully intending on crawling on top of Molly. ]
I want to see you, not him.
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(He can count Fjord's eyelashes.)
I want to see you, not him.
He can't help screwing up his face at that and just making the worst, least dignified expression he can think of. Because Mollymauk Tealeaf is always happy to make a fool of himself, and he severely doubts Lucien is. ]
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Oh. Fjord looks delighted as he remembers, ]
Seems legit. Your accent's different to his, after all.
[ Revenge!! ]
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Molly loves it.
It feels like they've grown so much closer in just this month here, and it's hard to tell if it's because of them being alone and depending on eachother on a weird sex island or what would always happen if he had stayed with them.
...then Fjord delivers that and he breaks into a laugh. ]
Really?
That is hilarious, and ironic.
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Hallo, my name's Loociuun. Watch where yur steppin' there! Gonna be stealin' this big ol' stone now.
[ His high-pitched Lucien accent is flawless, okay. Flawless. ]
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It certainly sounds flawless to Molly! ]
Perfect. I love it.
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If you ever act creepy, I'm biting these eyes off you. For your own good.
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Other than the fact that Fjord is a doofus, of course. ]
Duly noted.
[ He gives one of those tusks a small poke. ]
You look so good with these.
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He tosses his hair for show, acting smug. ]
I know, they're pretty great. Also useful, many a tiefling has been gored to date.
[ And he's going to pretend to go after that hand again with gnashing teeth, if Molly doesn't pull it back. ]
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So you're a tiefling murderer now?
[ He wiggles his hand teasingly and then pulls it back before those tusks can get near it. ]
I think you might be lying.
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The power was inside you all along.
So, once Fjord is in position to tease him, he forgets what he was going to say and ends up looking into those red eyes close enough to see the ghosts of pupils, content to stay there. ]
Maybe I just ... get them where I want them.
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